Roger Roots is an important scholar for tracing the ways by which the modern total state has curtailed constitutional liberties. Here we have read his analysis of the apparent loss of the right to use self-propelled carriages on the public highway. In this series we are answering the question, “Are cops constitutional.” In a new book, The Conviction Factory The Collapse of America’s Criminal Courts, ($16.95), he argues that America’s criminal courts have gradually abandoned adversarial due process and embraced a more inquisitorial model of justice favored by prosecutors. He traces the history of American criminal justice from its roots in … Continue reading Loss of private arrest power, rise of warrantless arrests by state actors — liberties largely fade